


Heroes Need Protecting Too

by Aishoka



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Poor Nooroo, Protective le Gorille, Tags May Change, frazzled Tikki, future chapters to be added, he would reveal Gabriel if he could, identities protected by magic, it takes a lot of energy to protect these two oblivious kids, le Gorille knows, secret identities known but kept secret, secrets can't be kept from someone paid to observe, smug Plagg, the more you try to discover them the harder it becomes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-01-13 05:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21238841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aishoka/pseuds/Aishoka
Summary: Civilians are figuring out the identities of the superheroes of Paris. Luckily for them, the ones in the know are the best possible people who could know the truth. Their secret is safe and perhaps their job will be getting just a little bit easier too.





	1. Protecting the Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's bodyguard has discovered the identity of both superheroes. Luckily for them, he was the best possible person to discover the truth. Their secret is safe and perhaps their job will be getting just a little bit easier too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set during the episode Copycat. I started watching season 2 this morning (30th Oct 2019) and it gave me the inspiration I needed to finish this ficlet that has been sitting around in my WIP folder for nearly a year.
> 
> I have not, do not, and will not consent to this work or any of my work being uploaded or displayed through third party apps and websites. If you are reading this work through an app that makes money from advertisements or that asks you to pay to read, please close the app and view my work for free on the original AO3 page.

Christophe Guérin, known to most as the Gorilla, was bodyguard to the most famous teen celebrity in Paris. He was used to unruly fan mobs, other teens trying to cosy up to the famous boy, kidnapping attempts, and just about every other issue a teen celebrity could possibly face.

His life was busy and hectic and so when Chat Noir bounced off the back of his car, obviously en route to an akuma attack, it didn't garner a reaction from the stoic man. It was just another day in Paris after all. Besides, if he _had_ damaged the car or scratched the paint, the Miraculous Cure would return it to normal soon enough.

No, Christophe didn't react to the hero of Paris bouncing off his car. At first.

Instead he looked up and down the street, checking to see if anyone was watching, and when he was absolutely certain that no one could possibly see him at all, _then_ he allowed himself to react.

"Damnit kid, you're not making this job easy."

Each word was punctured by a thud as he banged his head against the steering wheel in frustration. It was really hard to be a bodyguard when your charge was a magical cat-themed hero who was always running off.

Christophe knew.

Oh yes, he knew.

Quite frankly, he was surprised that more people didn't know the identity of the superheroes given how careless they were with their transformations. He really hoped that there weren't others out there who knew. It was possible but not something he cared to think about. Those two were _not_ the slightest bit cautious about their transformations.

It was that lack of caution that led to Christophe discovering that Adrien was Chat Noir only one week after he has received his miraculous.

An akuma had struck one morning as he was driving Adrien to school. Adrien had slipped out of the car and raced for the nearest alley. Christophe had followed him, naturally, and arrived just in time to see the magical transformation that left Chat Noir stood in Adrien's place. Christophe had been stunned but his charge hadn't noticed his presence in his eagerness to do his heroic duty.

For the rest of that day, Christophe had walked around in a daze. It was almost like his brain refused to process what he had just seen, like it refused to accept the truth he had witnessed. It wasn't until he looked at the security cameras that he finally accepted it.

Then began three days of agonising indecision.

His job, his head, and his heart were in conflict and Christophe had no clue which one to listen to.

His job was to protect Adrien. He couldn't do that when the boy was throwing himself in danger every other day. He should make some attempt to stop him or get rid of the Miraculous or report it to someone - if there was even someone to report it to? Was there some sort of Magical Oversight committee he could approach to say you've given dangerous magic to an underage boy? He didn't cover anything to do with magic during his training. He was in way over his head.

His head said to keep quiet. To carry on as if he didn't know anything. Chat Noir was needed - even only a week of living with magic, and akumas, and an actual Supervillain made that point abundantly clear. He was Ladybug's partner. He was a hero. He was _vital_ to the defence of the city from this magic-using madman.

His heart said another thing… and ultimately, that was the option Christophe chose.

He remembered the scared little five year old he had first been hired to protect, the one in awe of his strength and size, the one who immediately nicknamed him Gorilla while his mother apologised and tried not to laugh at her son's awe.

He remembered being hired to protect little Adrien from another kidnapping attempt after the first had barely been thwarted. He remembered seeing this bright little boy grow quieter and more withdrawn as one by one his freedoms were taken from him and his father dragged his mother away. He remembered how devastated the poor boy had been when his mother had disappeared and how even more freedoms had been withheld from him as a result.

He remembered that Adrien used to smile all the time, and that he hadn't truly smiled like that again until he got his miraculous.

Protecting Adrien wasn't just a matter of keeping him from physical harm, it was about keeping his _heart_ safe too.

Chat Noir was needed by Paris, true, but Adrien also needed Chat Noir to be happy again. Besides, it wasn't like he was defenceless when he turned into a magical superhero with enhanced agility, speed and strength, was it?

For now, Christophe was going to pretend he didn't know the truth. He would keep Adrien and Chat Noir safe to the best of his abilities. He would keep his silence about Ladybug's identity too, having found hers out in much the same way when collecting Adrien from school one day. Maybe he could find a way to let them know they needed to be more careful with their transformations?

Pretending not to know didnt mean he was inactive though.

Christophe had "upgraded" the many cameras around the Agreste estate so Chat Noir would never be caught by them unless Christophe allowed it, he had false GPS data for Adrien's phone to show that he was safe during akuma attacks should anyone ask, he had hundreds of possible cover stories for his absences, the Ladyblog was now Christophe's homepage on all his devices, and there was always a wheel of camembert and an extra large first aid kit in the car now - but those new measures weren't good enough to truly keep Adrien safe.

No. Christophe had a better way to do that.

He was one of the best bodyguards in the business because he was a former special forces genius, a martial arts expert, a chess master, and had a degree in psychology. He had all of the knowledge, skills, and equipment to hunt down an elusive target such as Hawkmoth… and hunt him he did.

He had the man's profile down. Male, fairly well-educated, financially stable, either his own boss or on flexible hours to allow him to akumatise people at all hours of the day, sees himself as the hero of his own narrative, more than likely self-centred and egotistical, strict, controlling, more than likely a recluse.

Christophe also had a fairly good geographical profile of the madman. He was located in the centre of Paris, somewhere in the first, second, third, fourth, or twenty-first arrondissements, and it had to be somewhere large and private enough for him to have a lair - because Hawkmoth certainly had one. There was no way he didn't have one, not with the theatricality of his introduction.

Christophe would bet good money that Hawkmoth had a job that dealt with spin and public relations - maybe politics, or theatre, or anything dramatic like films and fashion.

He was close to finding and ending the threat to his charge. Hawkmoth was in his sight.

In the meantime though he had to wait for Adrien to return after another akuma battle. He just hoped that Nathalie or Adrien's father didn't phone for an update while Chat Noir was busy.

"Hurry back, kid. I can't stall forever."


	2. A Villain's Profile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christophe Guérin knew his profile was accurate. He just didn't know why it wouldn't lead him to Hawkmoth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have not, do not, and will not consent to this work or any of my work being uploaded or displayed through third party apps and websites. If you are reading this work through an app that makes money from advertisements or that asks you to pay to read, please close the app and view my work for free on the original AO3 page.

Christophe Guérin knew his profile was accurate. He was certain of it.

He had studied profiling for years before and after gaining his psychology degree, he had decades of on the job experience to draw on, he had spent months working on perfecting this particular profile and scouring every database he could find (even the ones he technically didn't have access to) for additional information and potential matches. It was the most accurate profile he had ever created…

… so why couldn't he find this damned butterfly lunatic!

Christophe took off his reading glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing in frustration. The profile sat on his desk annotated multiple times over, in ink of all colours and messy and neat handwriting, as if mocking him with his inability to find Hawkmoth. All of that work and all of that effort yet he was no closer to his goal than when he first started.

He snorted.

No closer? He was a damned sight closer and he knew it. But all of his gains meant nothing if, as he suspected, he was being kept from discovering the truth.

The profile itself was not being compromised. No. His personal security was top-notch. His room in the servants area of the Agreste mansion had received extra upgrades over the years he had been based here and the profile was never away from him. Never. He didn't even have an electronic copy, using pen and paper so there was no way anyone could sneak through his multiple firewalls and access his information.

No, the tampering he suspected was going on was more mystical in nature and he had _zero_ ideas on how to counter it.

None of his training had prepared him for magical villains and heroes. He was still uncertain if there were people out there who could actually train others.

Adrien and his designer classmate seemed to have just fallen into superheroing and been left to muddle it out for themselves, so if there was no training available for the _actual_ heroes then what help was there for the… Christophe paused and frowned, puzzling over the correct terminology? What was he exactly?

He wasn't a sidekick. He didn't go out there and fight with them after all. Support staff maybe? That wasn't accurate either. He didn't do anything to help them fight or offer them training or guidance. All he did was keep their secret and turn a blind eye to the boy he was supposed to be protecting racing headlong into danger. He couldn't call himself a cheerleader either, as...

Christophe shook his head and glared at the profile.

That little tangent his mind hand wandered off on just then was proof enough for him. There was magic at work preventing him from focussing. Preventing him from learning the truth.

It had taken seeing Adrien transform into Chat Noir before Christophe was willing to believe that his charge was the feline superhero - even though they looked, sounded, and acted _identical_.

Similarly, although he had tried to discover Ladybug's true identity after discovering Adrien's - he wasn't going to let his charge hang around with someone unknown, someone potentially dangerous to the teen celebrity, without performing a full investigation, superheroine or not - it had taken witnessing her transformation near the bakery when collecting Adrien from school one day to fully realise who she was.

And, seriously, _why_ did these kids think it was okay to transform behind _a park bench_ of all things? Maybe he _should_ offer to train them? They certainly needed to employ better stealth tactics.

He wrenched his thoughts back on track again.

The fact was that, no matter how hard he had tried to figure out Ladybug's identity, or how damned obvious Chat Noir's was, he hadn't known them until he had actually _seen_ the transformation. Whatever magic was protecting them was obviously protecting Hawkmoth too. That was both highly beneficial for protecting Adrien yet also a major hindrance towards the same goal. How could he protect Adrien if he couldn't find the madman who was threatening him?

Christophe was honestly beginning to suspect that he wouldn't ever find out Hawkmoth's identity using this profile. The protective magic was just too good. Heck, it was good enough that his own boss, Gabriel Agreste himself, could be Hawkmoth and Christophe wouldn't even know it.

That thought stirred a memory in the back of his mind and he frowned down at the profile. It wasn't looking so mocking now.

He had ruled out Gabriel Agreste already, hadn't he?

Christophe was just reaching for the profile when the akuma alert went off. He sighed and filed the papers away again before moving to his computer and booting it up.

Chat Noir would need his exit from the mansion wiped from the security cameras and Christophe would need to keep an eye on the fight. If things went badly, if Adrien needed him, he would be there.

He had a go bag ready with a large first aid kit and a stash of cookies, all he needed to add was camembert from the fridge on the way out. His motorbike, his pride and joy, was fuelled and ready to go at a moments notice. He'd already worked out the fastest ways to each arrondissement, often using routes not necessarily intended for vehicles, and he was confident he could be at the site of any akuma battle within fifteen minutes or less.

If Adrien needed him, he would be there. _Nothing_ would stand in his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More protective Gorilla. Best character ever. Don't worry, he might not have discovered Hawkmoth's identity here but he's getting closer. Once again, this is a reminder that I have not yet seen all of s2 and none of s3 of ML. Christophe Guérin is the name I call Gorilla in my own headcanon. If canon disagrees with this then please consider my fic an AU. Also there will be more chapters to come in this story but not all of them will revolve around Christophe and his efforts to protect Adrien by finding Hawkmoth. Some chapters will focus on other characters who are also protecting the heroes. There is a vote on my Tumblr for what you want to see next.


	3. A Miraculous Safeguard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The magic of the Miraculous is designed to protect the identity of the wearer against discovery. Unluckily for the kwami, there are a lot more ways to discover an identity in 21st century Paris than they’re used to. It’s going to take a lot of magic to keep the protective enchantments in place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have not, do not, and will not consent to this work or any of my work being uploaded or displayed through third party apps and websites. If you are reading this work through an app that makes money from advertisements or that asks you to pay to read, please close the app and view my work for free on the original AO3 page.

Tikki was so glad that Marinette’s family owned a bakery.

She adored Marinette because she was Marinette. She was sweet and kind and funny and generous and one of the most creative humans she’d ever known. Tikki could honestly say she hadn’t had a Ladybug as good as Marinette in millennia, perhaps ever, and she adored their partnership.

But the bakery was definitely an added bonus.

Scratch that. The bakery was a _godsend_.

When the Guardian had awoken her after her long hibernation, he'd explained that things were rather different than she was used to this time around. He’d said she had a sharp learning curve ahead of her to adapt to the modern world.

Tikki hadn’t believed him.

Or, rather, she _had_ believed him, but she had underestimated the changes he was talking about.

It had seemed like he was exaggerating at first. He was old for a human and used to working alone, so Tikki assumed he wanted to micro-manage the partnership she was about to forge. She’d listened just to humour him, positive that things weren’t actually that different and that she could adjust as easily as every other time she paired up with a new human after a long dormancy.

Oh _how wrong_ she had been.

21st century Paris was _vastly_ different to anything she had known before. It was equally exciting and terrifying. So many people, so many sights and sounds and smells, so much life and vibrancy! Everything was just so busy and fast paced.

And there were also so many ways that a secret identity could be discovered.

Tikki really, really, _really_ wished she had paid more attention to the Guardian before he sent her to Marinette.

But no. She had assumed she knew best.

Tikki trusted the protective enchantments on the Miraculous. They had been set down when the jewels were forged, they had endured for millennia, they had protected hundreds and thousands of Chosen heroes in that long stretch of time. Why should this time be any different? 

One of the reasons why the enchantment was so effective was that it was so subtle. It worked simply by confusing onlookers. The little details that normally _would_ identify a hero slipped away and were either mis-remembered or forgotten completely.

People knew that Ladybug had black hair and blue eyes and a sweet voice, but when they looked at Marinette Dupain-Cheng they wouldn't see that.

They would swear that the length of her hair was too long, it wasn’t styled quite right, and her eyes were just a shade too light, plus she had freckles and Ladybug didn’t have freckles. And her voice, surely it was pitched lower than Ladybug's? That was true. There was no way that Marinette Dupain-Cheng could be Ladybug.

Those tiny nuances did more to protect a secret identity than anything big or flashy ever could. And with it being such a subtle spell, barely requiring any effort to alter a memory, the kwami didn’t need to exhaust their energy to keep it up. They could conserve all of their magic for transformations and battles and not worry about accidental discoveries.

But then Tikki started learning about the modern world and quickly realised it wasn't enough.

There were so many people around, everywhere, all the time. It was practically impossible for Marinette to find somewhere safe and completely private to transform. There was always _someone_ close by. And Ladybug _had_ to respond to an akuma as quickly as possible so Marinette couldn't waste time by going home to transform in the privacy of her own room - it was utterly impractical for one thing, not possible when she was supposed to be in school for another, and it would also quickly draw her parent’s suspicions. 

So Tikki found herself adding another layer to the protection spell. Anyone within one hundred metres of Marinette at the time of transformation would have their attention diverted elsewhere. _If_ they happened to notice Ladybug stood where a young girl had been, the confusion enchantment would kick in again. They would assume that Ladybug had sent the girl off to safety.

Tikki hoped that would be enough.

No sooner had she thought that, then Tikki learned that Marinette’s best friend was a blogger devoted to discovering Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities.

Alya was too close to Marinette and too obsessed with Ladybug and far too focussed on her mission for the enchantment to confuse her for long. Since Alya knew Marinette so well, and was hyper-focused on anything to do with Ladybug, Tikki had to reinforce the confusion element of the spell. Alya couldn’t be allowed to see the Ladybug in Marinette and the Marinette in Ladybug.

Ladybug did her best to put on a confident front, to hide her fears, insecurities, and doubts, thus the magic ensured that people thought of Ladybug as supremely confident. As bold and outgoing as Marinette could be, she also didn’t feel the need to hide anything from her friends and loved ones. They saw her doubt herself, they saw her hesitate, they saw her freak out, in fact her catastrophising rambles were looked upon with an amused fondness by all, and so they _obviously_ knew that Marinette Dupain-Cheng couldn't be Ladybug.

It was the same for her clumsiness too. The magical supersuit improved her balance and coordination, though it couldn't completely conceal her clumsiness, and so Ladybug was perceived as amazingly graceful while Marinette wasn't.

Tikki couldn't help but feel a bit guilty as she wove that new spell, even if it was only for a direct comparison between Marinette and Ladybug. It wouldn't _actually_ make people think any less of Marinette. People would still know just how wonderful Marinette was, but Tikki still couldn't help but feel guilty even though it was only to protect Marinette. 

Once that was done, Tikki thought they were finally safe… 

… until she learned that cameras were _everywhere_ in modern day life. 

In shops, on the street, on traffic lights, in the metro tunnels, around the main entrances and exits of the school and the Hotel Grande Paris, even in Marinette’s family bakery, they were _everywhere_.

There was no way that Marinette had completely avoided being caught transforming on camera. That worried Tikki since the best way to get around the protective enchantments was to witness a transformation. Anyone looking at the live feed or the recordings would know who Ladybug was.

So she had to adjust the spell _again_.

Whenever Marinette transformed, the cameras would either pan away and miss everything or they would fritz out or turn off temporarily. Anyone who happened to catch the odd behaviour of the camera would merely think it was interference or a power surge and dismiss it.

After a few weeks of nerve-wracking tension Tikki began to relax. Everything was finally going to plan and Marinette’s identity was safe.

But then Nathanaël got akumatised.

Tikki couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him - Marinette hadn’t even realised he liked her because she was so caught up in Adrien - but when the tiny goddess noticed his sketchbook she panicked. Before his akumatisation it had been full of Marinette, everything from quick sketches to detailed drawings, in a variety of styles, and she had featured heavily in his comics. But _after_ his akumatisation he had switched to drawing Ladybug almost exclusively.

If he ever compared the drawings side by side he would know!

Tikki had to create another layer to the protective enchantment then. Anyone who drew a mask on a picture of Marinette, or erased Ladybug’s mask, would be unable to connect the two girls. Marinette would look like Marinette with a mask and Ladybug would look like a stranger.

She had never been happier to have made that adjustment when a new selfie filter came out.

It put the Ladybug and Chat Noir masks on anyone in the photo. The new addition to the enchantment would make sure that no one realised Marinette was Ladybug, but just to be on the safe side Tikki tweaked it a little to ensure Marinette always got the Chat Noir mask. Then she tweaked the confusion spell again to make it so that Alya wouldn’t notice that fact.

And _that_ was why the bakery was a godsend.

Tikki had to make so many adjustments, to create brand new levels of protection, to funnel so much energy into confusing and misdirecting people, that she needed a _lot_ of fuel herself. Every single time the spell needed more she had to increase her cookie intake.

She was now eating a plateful of cookies a day, more if they were transforming, and even _more_ if Alya or Marinette’s parents were getting suspicious.

Thank goodness that Marinette had access to a steady supply. But if things carried on a this rate she’d be doing a midnight raid on the bakery and eating unbaked cookie dough to stay energised!

Some days it really felt like she could never eat enough. She always needed more energy to funnel into the confusion layer, or the misdirection layer, or the camera evasion layer. It was just so exhausting.

Honestly, she was starting to get worried that one of these days she would pour the energy into the wrong layer and someone would realise that Marinette was Ladybug. Or, worse, she would put so much effort into fuelling the protective magic that she would mess up on the transformation magic and Ladybug would appear without a yoyo! Or worse, without a mask!

Hopefully she’d catch a break before the next inevitable issue arose. Tikki really didn’t want to start eating like Plagg!

* * *

Plagg was so very glad that this time around he had got himself a rich little kitten.

In his opinion, he was long overdue for a luxurious life. He hadn’t had such a good time since pharaonic Egypt. Now _those_ people knew how to treat a cat kwami.

Life with Adrien might not be exactly like the worship of Ancient Egypt but it was damned close. He had it all. Space to run around in, a warm sunlight patch just _purr_-fect for napping, soft fabrics to lounge about on or to tear up, and a never-ending supply of the finest cheeses in the world.

He was so happy he could cry.

This was _heaven_!

Still, as much as he loved living a decadent, there was a small part of him that was too concerned with secret identities to relax. Not Adrien's identity. No, Plagg had that securely locked up. He knew that nothing short of seeing Adrien transform would give it away and the kid was too careful for that.

No. Plagg was worried about Ladybug's identity, whoever she may be. He could sense Tikki scrambling to add more layers to the protective enchantments and he hoped she was getting enough food. Not everyone could get a rich kitten with unlimited cheese-access like he did.

Yet as much as he worried, there was a bigger part of him that couldn’t wait for the ‘I told you so’ moment when he met Tikki again.

Plagg had been telling Tikki for centuries that she needed to beef up her protective enchantments and she had always dismissed him as a worrier. She trusted the enchantments to protect her bugs. But Tikki was the kwami of creation _and_ good fortune. As much as she trusted the enchantments she also relied heavily on her good luck to protect her bugs.

Plagg didn’t have that advantage.

He was the kwami of destruction and misfortune. He had learned long ago that simple confusion wasn’t enough to keep _his_ kittens safe.

He had hundreds of additional layers, added gradually over the millennia, to protect his kittens. They prevented family and friends from seeing the truth, prevented people from adding a mask and realising his kitten’s identity, prevented familiar voices or actions from giving it away. Plagg had learned the hard way that mere misdirection was never enough.

So when he had got paired with Adrien, and realised just how famous and well-known his kid was, he hadn’t panicked.

Instead he had just sat back and requested copious amounts of cheese from his all-too-willing human.

Someone put a _Gabriel_ brand billboard next to a poster of the heroes? That’ll be a kilo of gruyere please.

Someone is photoshopping Chat Noir’s outfit over a photo of Adrien? Five wheels of brie is all it takes.

People are starting to say Chat Noir walks like a model? Better have three blocks of cheddar - no, wait, make it four.

Adrien made a pun that was a bit too Chat Noir in front of his school friends? Two more wheels of camembert for supper.

In fact, the only area of protection that Plagg _didn’t_ have to regularly reinforce was parental recognition. Adrien's father and the assistant just didn’t pay enough attention to him for that. As outraged for Adrien as he was Plagg couldn’t ignore the fact that it worked highly in their favour.

All of the protective spells around Adrien were doing their job and all Plagg had to do was to ensure he ate enough cheese to fuel them - which was _absolutely_ fine with him.

So Plagg just sat back and let himself enjoy the lap of luxury for as long as it lasted.

* * *

Nooroo stared down at the small pile of hazelnuts in front of him. He gave a soundless sigh and reluctantly began to eat.

Sometimes, he really wished he could go on a hunger strike.

It wasn't possible though. He had to eat to power the magic of the Miraculous. He couldn't just stop no matter how much he wanted to.

And he _really_ wanted to.

He knew that someone was looking for Hawkmoth. Not just in the general sense of Parisians wondering who the Supervillain was or the police trying to figure it out. No, someone was _hunting_ Hawkmoth and they were getting close.

Nooroo wished he could help this hunter. He wished he could go on a hunger strike and not fuel the protective magic that kept Gabriel's identity a secret. Maybe then whoever this person was could find him and rescue him from another life of captivity.

Nooroo longed for that day of freedom.

He had no doubts that if this hunter was a good person, then he would hand Nooroo and the Miraculous over to Ladybug and Chat Noir. He didn't know what would happen to Gabriel at that point - would the hunter deal with him? Ladybug and Chat Noir? The Guardians? The police? He didn't really care about Gabriel's ultimate fate though. All he wanted was to return to the Guardians, to his kwami family, and to finally be free.

He didn’t dwell on what would happen to him if the person who found Hawkmoth wasn’t good. He’d suffered through too many similar scenarios before. He knew what his fate would be if another villain found him.

The Butterfly Miraculous had been sought many times over the millennia by the worst of humanity. It had the potential to create an army completely beholden to the wearer’s will. Those who craved power wanted The Butterfly Miraculous to aid them in their goals of conquest and dominion. The fact that evil people couldn’t tap into the full power of Nooroo's Miraculous had done nothing to stop them seeking it out over the years.

Yes, Nooroo was far too used to enslavement. He was the only kwami who had been used by more bad people than good.

It was why he wished he could go on a hunger strike. It was why he refused to add more protective spells onto his miraculous even though he knew how.

Generally speaking, the Butterfly Miraculous needed no extra protection. It worked most effectively at a distance and so there were very few times that anyone came close enough to discover the truth. In all of Nooroo’s millennia of partnering with humans there had been only two accidental discoveries.

And so he refused to add extra protection to his Miraculous. The good humans he had known didn’t require it, and the bad ones he had been forced to serve didn’t deserve it.

Nooroo, unlike any other kwami, _wanted_ his master to be found.

Here he was again, trapped as a servant to a bad master, and desperately hoping that the person hunting Hawkmoth could discover him and save him. He wished them all of Tikki’s luck in that endeavour.

He could sense them searching right now, in fact. And they were _close_.

Thanks to the protective enchantments, Nooroo knew how they were searching. He could tell they had a list of Hawkmoth’s traits and they were considering if Gabriel fit them. The magic was fighting them but this person was strong.

A few minutes more, a little bit more information, if they could just gather their focus enough to ignore the confusion, it wouldn’t take much to overpower the confusion and misdirection spell - it couldn't hold up to such a sustained and directed assault for long - the person searching was almost there…

“Nooroo!”

Gabriel called for him, speaking the transformation phrase, and Nooroo sighed. He dropped the hazelnut he had been eating and let himself be pulled into the Miraculous. Hopefully the akuma attack wouldn’t distract Hawkmoth’s seeker from the truth he had so very nearly uncovered.

Nooroo’s last conscious thought before merging with the Miraculous and transforming Gabriel was that, if he couldn’t be free, at least he could give Gabriel conniptions when he saw how hideous and unfashionable his akumas were. It was a small victory but it gave Nooroo such joy to see Gabriel’s eye twitching at the garish designs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just my personal headcanon about the Miraculouses. I have not yet seen all of season 2 and none of season 3 so if canon disagrees with my story then please consider this an AU. I was always surprised that no one could connect the dots between Marinette and Ladybug and Adrien and Chat Noir - they look and sound and act the same, Alya literally photoshopped a cat suit onto a photo of Adrien, they're not exactly careful about transforming, and given how obsessed Marinette is with Adrien and Chat Noir is with Ladybug you'd think those two at least would notice _something_ \- and this is my headcanon as to why that is. Magic. Basically, if you're looking for their identity you won't find it, but you can accidentally discover it.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry for the delay. This chapter was supposed to be up _last_ weekend but the mother-in-law invited herself around to see the sproglet and have a Sunday Roast with us and that took up all of my free time. Yay. However, in happier news, I passed my driving theory test this week and I have my practical booked for 17th February. Whoop! If I pass then that means no more lengthy bus trips with the sproglet to get him to school and a lot more writing time. Wish me luck - I'm going to need it. If it wasn't for the sproglet I wouldn't be taking lessons at all, I'm perfectly content with busses.
> 
> Between now and the 17th Feb, I'm going to be focussing all my effort on the practical test and on my Valentine's story. I'm going to do the Miraculous Valentine's Prompts from Tumblr #mlvalentines2k20 and it is already looking like it will be a sequel to All I Want For Christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> I post my work here on AO3, on ff.net, and on tumblr only. I have not, do not, and will not consent to this work or any of my work being uploaded or displayed on any other site, or through third party apps and websites.


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